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Early life of Hazrat Umar (RaziAllahHoTaalUnho)

Hazrat Umar (RaziAllahHoTaalUnho) was born in Makkah to the Banu Adi clan, which was responsible for arbitrations among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl and his mother was Hantammah daughter of Khattab, from the tribe of Banu Makhzum. He was the cousin of Khalid ibn al-Walid, a general who would play an important role later in his life, and during a wrestling match between the two, Umar had his leg broken. He is said to have belonged to a middle class family. In his youth he used to tend to his father’s camels in the plains near Mecca. His father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe. He was a middle class merchant and is believed to have been a ruthless man and emotional polytheist who often treated Umar badly. As obvious from Umar’s own statement regarding his father during his later political rule, Umar said, “My father Al-Khittab was a ruthless man. He used to make me work hard; if I didn’t work he used to beat me and he used to work me to exhaustion.”
Despite literacy being uncommon in pre-Islamic Arabia, Umar learned to read and write in his youth. Although not a poet himself, he developed a love for poetry and literature. According to the tradition of Quraish, while still in his teenage years, Umar learned martial arts, horse riding and wrestling. He was tall and physically powerful and soon became a renowned wrestler. Umar was also a gifted orator, and due to his intelligence and overwhelming personality, he succeeded his father as an arbitrator of conflicts among the tribes.
In addition, Umar followed the traditional profession of Quraish. He became a merchant and had several journeys to Rome and Persia, where he is said to have met various scholars and analyzed the Roman and Persian societies closely. However, as a merchant he is believed to have never been successful.